Good one, McGuity. As a high school student, let me be the first to tell you that I don't feel like I'm a beneficiary of this "Students First Act". Let's begin by talking about teachers. Teachers definitely do more for us than we realize. Sure, they get a solid pay check at the end of it, but they work hard. Dealing with kids, marking endless papers and extra curriculars only make up a small part of what teachers do for us. Bill 115 puts a two-year wage freeze on experienced teachers while allowing new ones to can work their way up. But the wage freeze isn't even the real issue here. After what I find to be a relatively reasonable 20 sick days per year (teachers are around hundreds of people daily; people get sick), McGuinty decided that students would benefit if this was cut to 10 days per year. One per month? Really? Teachers are easily susceptible to sickness, not to mention many of them have their own kids to look after, among other issues. In the past, teachers could save these days if they weren't used and get a payout at retirement. Over the years, through collective bargaining, the teachers have given up improvements to their contract for this payout. The government simply wants to throw this aside. The payout was around a maximum of $40 000, which is a lot, but after 30 years of work, it's nothing compared to the MP payout of close to a quarter million dollars after eight years. Eight years. Once again, not even the main issue. Moving on to the Bill now. Bill 115 basically goes against a great aspect of Canadian democracy. This "Students First Act" allows essentially complete control by the government on teachers. Despite the fact that this Bill doesn't directly take away the right to strike, it gives power to single members of the Cabinet to cancel a teacher strike at any point during a strike, forcing them to return to work. In addition to this, the right to contract negotiation isn't directly taken away. However, the Minister of Education can veto the contracts negotiated by the unions. Excuse me, Mr. McGuinty, but how is that allowed according to labor laws in Ontario? Furthermore, despite attempting to negotiate a contract, which the government says they're letting the teachers do, the government has one option: to accept the contract set before them by the government by a certain date, or have it enforced at a deadline. Did I mention that despite this Bill being in act for two years, the government can extend the Bill whenever they want? Gotta love democracy. Now, to me, it didn't seem like this Bill affected too many people. Until I found some numbers. Between the unions for elementary/secondary teachers, public employees, and public service employees, there are roughly 300 000 workers or 1 in 40 people of the entire Ontario population. This is Bill will have a huge effect on more families than I would like to accept. So to all you students who are confused or angry at your teachers for the cancellation of extra-curriculars, how would you feel if you were put in this situation? As much as teachers enjoy giving us a great schooling experience outside the classroom, their basic rights as employees are being taken away. And let us not forget that these are done on their own time to begin with. Good luck, teachers. And thank you for all you do.
